Day 14 - Erzurum

Our whirlwind car trip requires us to be in Erzurum by 11.30 am so we leave Dogubayazit at 7am and we manage to make the drive in 3 hours. There are more than a few dangerous sections of potholes, and the Turkish style of driving is quite sloppy so I have to be very careful when we're going fast.


We decided to stay overnight in Erzurum to give our travelling bones a break, and right after checking in to the Otel Dede we met two teachers and one student from the local University there, and Recep and Mesut offered to show us around Erzurum. It is a busy, modern city mixed up with ancient mosques, castles and madaras. Even the people are a mix of modern and conservatism that is most evident in the clothing of women; modern jeans to traditional face-coverng burkas are a common sight.

Our guides take us to a traditional Ottoman Erzurum house, kept by a little old lady who shows us her kitchen and meeting rooms. Afterwards we go to a Turkish tea house and again Leah is the object of attention, with all eyes on her. It isn't creepy, just curious. Recep runs over to an old Turk and borrows his hat to put it on my head, and everyone laughs - silly tourists!


Around 6.30 that evening our new friends meet us again and we all go to a Cag Kebap restaurant with absolutely delectable lamb skewers that they keep bringing until you say you've had enough. Recep's girlfriend met us here and we all enjoy wrapping the lamb in thin soft pita bread.

After dinner we walk to a cool little tea/coffee/hookah house and Mesut's girlfriend Sumeyra arrives to help us have laughs, talk about Turkey and Canada, politics and freedom. At the end of the night we all feel really friendly with each other and we trade email addresses.

You can see more of our photos here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/thewozza
http://picasaweb.google.com/leah.lesyk/Istanbul